Engel's books

[NoOneIsIllegal]

I have been considering picking up a few books that Engels wrote by himself, particularly "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State." To be honest, I sometimes have a hard time reading Marx (see: Capital). I read somewhere that compared to Marx, Engels wrote in a more simple fashion that was easily comprehensible to the workers of his day. I'm pretty sure his other two major works were The Condition of the Working Class in England, and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
Is Engels work easy to tackle? Is it recommended, and if so, which ones are the top priorities?

Thank you in advance.

[x359594]

...To be honest, I sometimes have a hard time reading Marx (see: Capital). I read somewhere that compared to Marx, Engels wrote in a more simple fashion that was easily comprehensible to the workers of his day...

Capital is not the work to start with when approaching Marx. Broadly Marx's writings can be divided into economic analysis (Capital, Value Price and Profit, Wage Labor and Capital, etc.,) political (The Communist Manifesto, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, The Civil War in France) and philosophical (Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right.) The political writings are very accessible and well-written, especially The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. Maybe you should give one of these a try.

As for Engels, his work is somewhat dated. For example,The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State is based on 19th century anthropology which makes his conclusions faulty. On the other hand The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 is a piece of solid observation and analysis that holds up well.